54 
The Fern Garden . 
quantity of water so as to fill the ends as well as the 
bottom, a maximum of heat would be obtained. Now, 
to fill this reservoir need not be so ridiculous an affair 
as it is at present ; my idea of the matter is to have a 
whole side of the wooden frame removable at a touch, 
so that we could get to the reservoir and fill it with as 
much ease as one might fill a washing-tub. I have 
shown a removable portion only of the end C. I must 
leave it to the imagination of the inventive reader to 
work out this point, confident that he will have no 
A, trough containing soil for ferns ; B, reservoir for hot water ; C, 
opening for filling reservoir; D, air pipe; E, tap to draw off water 
from reservoir ; E, tap to draw off drainage water from soil ; G, stratum 
of crocks for drainage. 
difficulty in opening the side of the case so as to pour 
water into the reservoir with some speed from a large 
can, instead of dribbling it in as now in a way that 
suggests that fern-growers ought to live for ever if only 
for the sake of keeping their cases warm. The pipe, F, 
